Mimar Sinan

Koca Mi'mr Sinn (Ottoman Turkish:

, Sinan Agha the Grand Architect"; Modern
Turkish: Mimar Sinan, pronounced [mima sinan],
Sinan the Architect) (c. 1489/1490 July 17, 1588)
was the chief Ottoman architect (Turkish:
mimar)
and civil engineer for sultans Suleiman the Magnicent,
Selim II, and Murad III. He was responsible for the construction of more than 300 major structures and other
more modest projects, such as schools. His apprentices
would later design the Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul,
Stari Most in Mostar, and help design the Taj Mahal in
the Mughal Empire.
The son of a stonemason, he received a technical education and became a military engineer. He rose rapidly
through the ranks to become rst an ocer and nally a
Janissary commander, with the honoric title of aa.[1]
He rened his architectural and engineering skills while
on campaign with the Janissaries, becoming expert at
constructing fortications of all kinds, as well as military infrastructure projects, such as roads, bridges and
aqueducts.[2] At about the age of fty, he was appointed
as chief royal architect, applying the technical skills he
had acquired in the army to the creation of ne religious buildings and civic structures of all kinds.[2] He
remained in this post for almost fty years.
His masterpiece is the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne, although his most famous work is the Suleiman Mosque in
Istanbul. He headed an extensive governmental department and trained many assistants who, in turn, distinguished themselves, including Sedefkar Mehmed Agha,
architect of the Sultan Ahmed Mosque. He is considered
the greatest architect of the classical period of Ottoman
architecture and has been compared to Michelangelo,
his contemporary in the West.[3][4] Michelangelo and his
plans for St. Peters Basilica in Rome were well known
in Istanbul, since Leonardo da Vinci and he had been
invited, in 1502 and 1505 respectively, by the Sublime
Porte to submit plans for a bridge spanning the Golden
Horn.[5]

A pencil portrait of Mimar Sinan

born either an Armenian,[9][10][11][12][13][14] Cappadocian

Greek,[15][16][17][18][19][20][21] Albanian,[22][23][24] or a
Christian Turk[25] in a small town called Arnas near the
city of Kayseri in Anatolia (as stated in an order by Sultan
Selim II).[26] According to the Encyclopdia Britannica,
Sinan had either Armenian or Greek origin.[6] One argument that lends credence to his Armenian or Greek background is a decree by Selim II dated Ramadan 7 981 (ca.
Dec. 30, 1573), which grants Sinans request to forgive
and spare his relatives from the general exile of Kayseris
Armenian communities to the island of Cyprus;[12][27]
while Godfrey Goodwin stated that after the Ottoman
conquest of Cyprus in 1571, when Selim II decided to repopulate the island by transferring Rum (Orthodox Christian) families from the Karaman Eyalet, Sinan intervened
on behalf of his family and obtained two orders from the
Sultan in council exempting them from deportation.[20]
According to Herbert J. Muller he seems to have been

Early years and background

According to contemporary biographer, Mustafa Si

elebi, Sinan was born in 1489 (c. 1490 according to the
Encyclopdia Britannica,[6] 1491 according to the Dictionary of Islamic Architecture[7] and some time between
1494 and 1499, according to the Turkish professor and
architect Reha Gnay)[8] with the name Joseph. He was
1

WORK

an Armenian.[28] Lucy Der Manuelian of Tufts University suggests that he can be identied as an Armenian
through a document in the imperial archives and other
evidence.[29]

chitect, learning the weak points of structures when gunning them down. In 1535 he participated in the Baghdad
campaign as a commanding ocer of the Royal Guard.
In 1537 he went on expeditions to Corfu and Apulia and
[35]
The scholars who support the thesis of his Cappadocian Moldavia.
Greek background have identied his father as a During these campaigns he proved himself an able arstonemason and carpenter by the name of Christos (Greek chitect and engineer. When the Ottoman army captured
), a common Greek name.[30][31]
Cairo, Sinan was promoted to chief architect and was
Several scholars have cited Sinans possible Albanian given the privilege of tearing down any buildings in the
origin.[22] According to the British scholar Percy Brown captured city that were not according to the city plan.
and the Indian scholar Vidya Dhar Mahajan, the Mughal During the campaign in the East, he assisted in the buildEmperor Babur was very dissatised from the local Indian ing of defences and bridges, such as a bridge across the
architecture and planning, thus he invited certain pupils Danube. He converted churches into mosques. During
of the leading Ottoman architect Sinan, the Albanian ge- the Persian campaign in 1535 he built ships for the army
and the artillery to cross Lake Van. For this he was given
nius, to carry out his architectural schemes.[32][33]
the title Haseki'i, Sergeant-at-Arms in the body guard of
Sinan grew up helping his father in his work, and by the Sultan, a rank equivalent to that of the Janissary Aa.
the time that he was conscripted would have had a good
grounding in the practicalities of building work.[7] There When Chelebi Lt Pasha became Grand Vizier in 1539,
are three brief records (Anonymous Text; Architectural he appointed Sinan, who had previously served under his
Masterpieces; Book of Architecture) in the library of command, to the oce of Architect of the Abode of FeTopkap Palace, dictated by Sinan to his friend and bi- licity. This was the start of a remarkable career. The job
entailed the supervision infrastructure construction and
ographer Mustafa Si elebi. In these manuscripts,
Sinan divulges some details of his youth and military ca- the ow of supplies within the Ottoman Empire. He was
also responsible for the design and construction of public
reer. His father is referred to as Abdlmennan (literally "Servant of the Generous and Merciful One"), a title works, such as roads, waterworks and bridges. Through
the years he transformed his oce into that of Architect
which was commonly used in the Ottoman period to deof the Empire, an elaborate government department, with
ne the non-Muslim father of a Muslim convert.[8]
greater powers than his supervising minister. He became
the head of a whole Corps of architects, training a team
of assistants, deputies and pupils.

Military career

In 1512, Sinan was conscripted into Ottoman service under the devshirme system.[26][34] He was sent to Constantinople to be trained as an ocer of the Janissary
Corps and converted to Islam.[26] He was too old to be
admitted to the imperial Enderun School in the Topkap
Palace but was sent instead to an auxiliary school.[26]
Some records claim that he might have served the Grand
Vizier Pargal brahim Pasha as a novice of the Ibrahim
Pasha School. Possibly, he was given the Islamic name
Sinan there. He initially learned carpentry and mathematics but through his intellectual qualities and ambitions, he
soon assisted the leading architects and got his training as
an architect.[26]
During the next six years, he also trained to be a Janissary ocer (acemiolan). He possibly joined Selim I
in his last military campaign, Rhodes according to some
sources, but when the Sultan died, this project ended.
Two years later he witnessed the conquest of Belgrade.
Under the new sultan, Suleiman the Magnicent, he was
present, as a member of the Household Cavalry, at the
Battle of Mohcs. He was promoted to captain of the
Royal Guard and then given command of the Infantry
Cadet Corps. He was later stationed in Austria, where he
commanded the 62nd Orta of the Rie Corps.[26] He became a master of archery, while at the same time, as an ar-

3 Work
His training as an army engineer gave Sinan an empirical
approach to architecture rather than a theoretical one. But
the same can be said of the great Western Renaissance
architects, such as Brunelleschi and Michelangelo.
Various sources state that Sinan was the architect of
at least 374 structures which included 92 mosques; 52
small mosques (mescit); 55 schools of theology (medrese);
7 schools for Koran reciters (darlkurra); 20 mausoleums (trbe); 17 public kitchens (imaret); 3 hospitals
(darifa); 6 aqueducts; 10 bridges; 20 caravanserais; 36
palaces and mansions; 8 vaults; and 48 baths.[36] Sinan
held the position of chief architect of the palace, which
meant being the overseer of all construction work of the
Ottoman Empire, for nearly 50 years, working with a
large team of assistants consisting of architects and master builders.
The development and maturing stages of Sinans career
can be illustrated by three major works. The rst two of
these are in Istanbul: the ehzade Mosque, which he calls
a work of his apprenticeship period and he Sleymaniye
Mosque, which is the work of his qualication stage. The
Selimiye Mosque in Edirne is the product of his master

3.1

The early years (till the mid-1550s) : apprenticeship period

stage.
Sinans major works
ehzade Mosque - Istanbul
ehzade Mosque interior
Sleymaniye Mosque - Istanbul
Sleymaniye Mosque interior

types and were based on rudimentary plans. They were

more an assembly of parts than a conception of a whole.
An architect could sketch a plan for a new building and an
assistant or foreman knew what to do, because novel ideas
were avoided. Moreover, architects used an extravagant
margin of safety in their designs, resulting in a wasteful
use of material and labour. Sinan would gradually change
all this. He was to transform established architectural
practices, amplifying and transforming the traditions by
adding innovations, trying to approach perfection.

Selimiye mosque - Edirne

ehzade Mosque is the rst of the grand mosques created by Sinan. The Mihrimah Sultan Mosque, which
is also known as the skdar Quay Mosque, was completed in the same year and has an original design with
its main dome supported by three half domes. When
Sinan reached the age of 70, he had completed the Sleymaniye Mosque complex. This building, situated on
one of the hills of Istanbul facing the Golden Horn, and
built in the name of Sleyman the Magnicent, is one of
the symbolic monuments of the period. The diameter of
the dome, which exceeds the 31 m (102 ft) of the Selimiye Mosque which Sinan completed when he was 80,
is the most outstanding example of the level of achievement reached by Sinan. Mimar Sinan reached his artistic
peak with the design, architecture, tile decorations and
land stone workmanship displayed at Selimiye.
Another area of architecture where Sinan produced
unique designs are his mausoleums. The Mausoleum of
ehzade Mehmed is notable for with its exterior decorations and sliced dome. The Rstem Paa mausoleum
is a very attractive structure in classical style. The mausoleum of Sleyman the Magnicent is an interesting experiment, with an octagonal body and at dome. The
Selim II Mausoleum with has a square plan and is one
of the best examples of Turkish mausoleum architecture.
Sinans own mausoleum, which is located in the northeast part of the Sleymaniye complex on the other hand,
is a very plain structure.

3.1 The early years (till the mid-1550s) :

apprenticeship period

Osman Shah Mosque in Trikala

During these years he continued the traditional pattern of

Ottoman architecture, but he gradually began exploring
other possibilities, because during his military career he
had had the opportunity to study the architectural monuments in the conquered cities of Europe and the Middle
East.

His rst opportunity to design a major building was the

Hsrev Pasha Mosque and its double medresse in Aleppo,
Syria. It was built in the winter of 1536-1537 for his
commander-in-chief and the governor of Aleppo between
two army campaigns. It was built hastily and this is eviSinan masterfully combined art with functionalism in the dent in the coarseness of execution and the crude decobridges he built. The largest of these is the nearly 635
ration.
m (2,083 ft) long Bykekmece Bridge. Other important examples are the Ailivri Bridge, the Old Bridge His rst major commission as the royal architect was
in Svilengrad on the Maritsa, the Lleburgaz (Sokullu the construction of a modest Haseki Hrrem complex
Mehmet Pasha) Bridge on the Lleburgaz River, the for Roxelana (Hrem Sultan), the wife of the sultan,
Sinanl Bridge over the river Ergene and the Drina Sleyman the Magnicent. He had to follow the plans
drawn by his predecessors. Sinan retained the tradiBridge.[37]
tional arrangement of the available space without any
While Sinan was maintaining and improving the water innovations. Nevertheless, it was already better built
supply system of Istanbul, he built arched aqueducts at than the Aleppo mosque and it shows a certain eleseveral locations within the city. The Malova Arch over gance. However, it has suered from many restorations.
the Alibey River, which is 257 m (843 ft) long and 35 m Sinan is credited to have built a defensive tower in Vlor,
(115 ft) high, has two tiers of arches, and is one of the south Albania, in 1537, very similar to the White Tower
best examples of its kind.
of Thessaloniki,[38] as well as Muradie Mosque, during
At the start of Sinans career, Ottoman architecture was Suleiman the Magnicent's stay in the town for the prepahighly pragmatic. Buildings were repetitions of former ration of his expedition towards Italy.[39][40]

WORK

heir to the throne ehzade Mehmet had died at the

age of twenty-two. In November 1543, not long after
Sinan had started the construction of the Iskele Mosque,
the sultan ordered Sinan to build a new major mosque
with an adjoining complex in memory of his favourite
son. This ehzade Mosque would become larger and
more ambitious than his previous ones. Architectural
historians consider this mosque as Sinans rst masterpiece. Obsessed by the concept of a large central dome,
Sinan turned to the plans of mosques such as the Fatih
Pasha Mosque in Diyarbakr or the Piri Pasha Mosque in
Hasky. He must have visited both mosques during his
Persian campaign. Sinan built a mosque with a central
dome, this time with four equal half-domes. This superstructure is supported by four massive, but still elegant,
free-standing octagonal uted piers and four piers incorporated in each lateral wall. In the corners, above roof
level, four turrets serve as stabilizing anchors. This coherent concept already is markedly dierent from the additive plans of traditional Ottoman architecture. Sedefkar
Mehmed Agha would later copy the concept of uted
piers in his Sultan Ahmed Mosque in an attempt to lighten
their appearance. Sinan, however, rejected this solution
in his next mosques.

The ehzade Mehmet Mosque

In 1541, he started the construction of the mausoleum

(trbe) of the Grand Admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa. It
stands on the shore of Beikta on the European part of Istanbul, at the site where his eet used to assemble. Oddly
enough, the admiral is not buried there, but in his trbe
next to the Iskele mosque. This mausoleum has been
severely neglected since then.
Mihrimah Sultana, the only daughter of Sleyman and
wife of the Grand Vizier Rstem Pasha gave Sinan the
commission to build a mosque with medrese (college), an
imaret (soup kitchen) and a sibyan mekteb (Qur'an school)
in skdar. The imaret no longer exists. This Iskele
Mosque (or Jetty mosque) already shows several hallmarks of Sinans mature style: a spacious, high-vaulted
basement, slender minarets, single-domed baldacchino,
anked by three semi-domes ending in three exedrae and
a broad double portico. The construction was nished
in 1548. The construction of a double portico was not
a rst in Ottoman architecture, but it set a trend for
country mosques and mosques of viziers in particular.
Rstem Pasha and Mihrimah required them later in their
three mosques in Constantinople and in the Rstem Pasha
Mosque in Tekirda. The inner portico traditionally have
stalactite capitals while the outer portico has capitals with
chevron patterns (baklava).
When sultan Sleyman the Magnicent returned from
another Balkan campaign, he received news that his

3.2 Mid-1550s to 1570: qualication stage

By 1550, Sleyman the Magnicent was at the height
of his powers. Having built a mosque for his son, he
felt it was time to construct his own imperial mosque,
an enduring monument larger than all the others, to be
built on a gently sloping hillside dominating the Golden
Horn. Money was no problem, since he had accumulated
a treasure from the loot of his campaigns in Europe and
the Middle East. He gave the order to Sinan to build a
mosque, the Sleymaniye, surrounded by a klliye consisting of four colleges, a soup kitchen, a hospital, an
asylum, a hamam, a caravanserai and a hospice for travellers (tabhane). Sinan, now heading a formidable department with a great number of assistants, nished this
formidable task in seven years. Before Sleymaniye, no
mosques had been built with half cubic roofs. He got
the idea of half cubic roof design from the Hagia Sophia.
Through this monumental achievement, Sinan emerged
from the anonymity of his predecessors. Sinan must have
known the ideas of the Renaissance architect Leone Battista Alberti (who in turn had studied De architectura by
the Roman architect and engineer Vitruvius), since he
too was concerned in building the ideal church, reecting
harmony through the perfection of geometry in architecture. But, contrary to his Western counterparts, Sinan
was more interested in simplication than in enrichment.
He tried to achieve the largest volume under a single central dome. The dome is based on the circle, the perfect
geometrical gure representing, in an abstract way, a perfect God. Sinan used subtle geometric relationships, using multiples of two when calculating the ratios and the

3.2

Mid-1550s to 1570: qualication stage

proportions of his buildings. However, in a later stage, he

also used divisions of three or ratios of two to three when
working out the width and the proportions of domes, such
as the Sokollu Mehmet Pasha Mosque at Kadrga.

5
the most beautiful hamams he ever constructed.

In 1559, he built the Cafer Aa madrasah below the forecourt of the Hagia Sophia. In the same year he began
the construction of a small mosque for Iskender Pasha
While he was fully occupied with the construction of the at Kanlka, beside the Bosphorus. This was one of the
Sleymaniye, Sinan or his subordinates drew up the plans many minor and routine commissions the oce of Sinan
and gave instructions for many other constructions. Sinan received over the years.
built a mosque for the Grand Vizier Pargal brahim Pasha
and a mausoleum (trbe) at Silivrikap (Constantinople)
in 1551.

Juma-Jami Mosque (Han Mosque), Yevpatoria, Crimea

The next Grand Vizier, Rstem Pasha gave Sinan several

more commissions. In 1550 he built a large inn (han) in
the Galata district of Istanbul. About ten years later he
built another han in Edirne, and between 1544 and 1561
the Ta Han at Erzurum. He designed a caravanserai in
Eregli and an octagonal madrasah in Constantinople.
Between 1553 and 1555, Sinan built the Sinan Pasha
Mosque at Beikta, a smaller version of the erefeli
Mosque at Edirne, for the Grand Admiral Sinan Pasha.
This proves again that Sinan had thoroughly studied the
work of other architects, especially since he was responsible for the upkeep of these buildings. He copied the old
form, pondered over the weaknesses in the construction
and tried to solve this with his own solution. In 1554,
Sinan used the form of the Sinan Pasha mosque again for
the construction of the mosque for the next Grand Vizier
Kara Ahmet Pasha in Constantinople, his rst hexagonal
mosque. By using a hexagonal plan, Sinan could reduce
the side domes to half-domes and set them in the corners
at an angle of 45 degrees. Clearly, Sinan must have appreciated this form, since he repeated it later in mosques
such as the Sokollu Mehmed Pasha Mosque at Kadrga
and the Atik Valide Mosque at skdar.
In 1556, Sinan built the Haseki Hrrem Hamam, replacing the antique Baths of Zeuxippus, which are still standing close to the Hagia Sophia. This would become one of

Possibly Mimar Sinan (left) at the tomb of Suleiman the Magnificent, 1566

In 1561, when Rstem Pasha died, Sinan began the construction of the Rstem Pasha Mosque, as a memorial
supervised by his widow Mihrimah Sultana. It is situated just below the Sleymaniye. This time the central
form is octagonal, modelled on the monastery church of
Saints Sergius and Bacchus, with four small semi-domes
set in the corners. In the same year, Sinan built a trbe for
Rstem Pasha in the garden of the ehzade Mosque, decorated with the nest tiles Iznik could produce. Mihrimah
Sultana, having doubled her wealth after the death of
her husband, now wanted a mosque of her own. Sinan
built the Mihrimah Camii at Edirnekap (Edirne Gate)
for her on the highest of the seven hills of Constantinople.
He raised the mosque on a vaulted platform, accentuating its hilltop site. There is some speculation concerning
the dates; until recently this was supposed to be between
1540 and 1540, but now it is generally accepted to be between 1562 and 1565. Sinan, concerned with grandeur,
built a mosque in one of his most imaginative designs,
using new support systems and lateral spaces to increase
the area available for windows. He built a central dome
37 m (121 ft) high and 20 m (66 ft) wide, supported by
pendentives, on a square base with two lateral galleries,

each with three cupolas. At each corner of this square

stands a gigantic pier, connected with immense arches
each with 15 large windows and four circular ones, ooding the interior with light. The style of this revolutionary building was as close to the Gothic style as Ottoman
structure permits.
Between 1560 and 1566 Sinan built a mosque in Constantinople for Zal Mahmud Pasha on a hillside beyond
Ayvansaray. Sinan certainly conceived the plans and
partly supervised the construction, but left the building
of lesser areas to less than competent hands, since Sinan
and his most able assistants were about to begin his masterpiece, the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne. On the outside,
the mosque rises high, with its east wall pierced by four
tiers of windows. This gives the mosque an aspect of a
palace or even a block of apartments. Inside, there are
three broad galleries making the interior look compact.
The heaviness of this structure makes the dome look unexpectedly lofty. These galleries look like a preliminary
try-out for the galleries of the Selimiye Mosque.

3.3

The period from 1570 to his death:

master stage

WORK

tion. When it was completed, Sinan claimed that it had

the largest dome in the world, leaving Hagia Sophia behind. In fact, the dome height from the ground level was
lower and the diameter barely larger (0.5 meters, approximately 2 feet) than the millennium-older Hagia Sophia.
However, measured from its base the dome of Selimiye is
higher. Sinan was more than 80 years old when the building was nished. In this mosque he nally realized his
aim of creating the optimum, completely unied, domed
interior : a triumph of space that dominates the interior.
He used this time an octagonal central dome (31.28 m
wide and 42 m high), supported by eight elephantine piers
of marble and granite. These supports lack any capitals
but have squinches or consoles at their summit, leading
to the optical eect that the arches seem to grow integrally out of the piers. By placing the lateral galleries
far away, he increased the three-dimensional eect. The
many windows in the screen walls ood the interior with
light. The buttressing semi-domes are set in the four corners of the square under the dome. The weight and the
internal tensions are hidden, producing an airy and elegant eect rarely seen under a central dome. The four
minarets (83 m high) at the corners of the prayer hall are
the tallest in the Muslim world, accentuating the vertical
posture of this mosque that already dominates the city.

Selimiye Mosque, built by Sinan in 1575. Edirne, Turkey.

In this late stage of his life, Sinan tried to create unied

and sublimely elegant interiors. To achieve this, he eliminated all the unnecessary subsidiary spaces beyond the
supporting piers of the central dome. This can be seen
in the Sokollu Mehmet Paa mosque in Istanbul (1571
1572) and in the Selimiye mosque in Edirne. In other
buildings of his nal period, Sinan experimented with
spatial and mural treatments that were new in the classical Ottoman architecture.
According to him from his autobiography "Tezkiretl
Bnyan", his masterpiece is the Selimiye Mosque in
Edirne. Breaking free of the handicaps of traditional
Ottoman architecture, this mosque marks the climax of
Sinans work and of all classical Ottoman architecture.
While it was being built, the architects saying of "You
can never build a dome larger than the dome of Hagia
Sophia and specially as Muslims" was his main motiva-

Mehmed Paa Sokolovi Bridge inscribed at UNESCO, built by

Sinan in 1577. Viegrad, Bosnia.

He also designed the Taqiyya al-Sulaimaniyya khan and

mosque in Damascus, still considered one of the citys
most notable monuments, as well as the Banya Bashi
Mosque in Soa, Bulgaria, currently the only functioning mosque in the city. He has also built Mehmed Paa
Sokolovi Bridge in Viegrad across the Drina River
in the east of Bosnia and Herzegovina which is now
UNESCO World Heritage Site.

3.4 Conclusion
At the start of his career as an architect, Sinan had to
deal with an established, traditional domed architecture.
His training as an army engineer led him to approach architecture from an empirical point of view, rather than

7
or supervised 476 buildings (196 of which still survive),
according to the ocial list of his works, the Tazkiratal-Abniya. He could not possibly have designed them all,
but he relied on the skills of his oce. He took credit and
the responsibility for their work. For, as a janissary, and
thus a slave of the sultan, his primary responsibility was
to the sultan. In his spare time, he also designed buildings
for the chief ocials. He delegated to his assistants the
construction of less important buildings in the provinces.
94 large mosques (camii),
57 colleges,
Mimar Sinans architectural concepts were incorporated into the
design of the famous Taj Mahal.,[41][42] in the Mughal Empire
by Shah Jahan.

52 smaller mosques (mescit),

48 bath-houses (hamam).

35 palaces (saray),
from a theoretical one. He started to experiment with
the design and engineering of single-domed and multiple 22 mausoleums (trbe),
domed structures. He tried to obtain a new geometrical
20 caravanserai (kervansaray; han),
purity, a rationality and a spatial integrity in his structures
and designs of mosques. Through all this, he demon 17 public kitchens (imaret),
strated his creativity and his wish to create a clear, unied space. He started to develop a series of variations
8 bridges,
on the domes, surrounding them in dierent ways with
8 store houses or granaries
semi-domes, piers, screen walls and dierent sets of galleries. His domes and arches are curved, but he avoided
7 Koranic schools (medrese),
curvilinear elements in the rest of his design, transform 6 aqueducts,
ing the circle of the dome into a rectangular, hexagonal or octagonal system. He tried to obtain a rational
3 hospitals (darifa)
harmony between the exterior pyramidal composition of
semi-domes, culminating in a single drumless dome, and
the interior space where this central dome vertically inte- Some of his works:
grates the space into a unied whole. His genius lies in
the organization of this space and in the resolution of the
Azapkapi Sokullu Mosque in Istanbul
tensions created by the design. He was an innovator in
Caferaa Medresseh
the use of decoration and motifs, merging them into the
architectural forms as a whole. He accentuated the cen Selimiye Mosque in Edirne
tre underneath the central dome by ooding it with light
from the many windows. He incorporated his mosques
Sleymaniye Complex
in an ecient way into a complex (klliye), serving the
Kl Ali Pasha Complex
needs of the community as an intellectual centre, a community centre and serving the social needs and the health
Molla elebi Mosque
problems of the faithful.
Haseki Baths
When Sinan died, classical Ottoman architecture had
reached its climax. No successor was gifted enough to
emberlita Baths
better the design of the Selimiye mosque and to develop
Piyale Pasha Mosque
it further. His students retreated to earlier models, such
as the ehzade mosque. Invention faded away, and a de ehzade Mosque
cline set in.
Mihrimah Sultan Mosque in Edirnekap

Constructions

His most Important piece of architecture was Masjid AlHaram. During his tenure during 50 years of the post
of imperial architect, Sinan is said to have constructed

Mehmed Paa Sokolovi Bridge in Viegrad

Banya Bashi Mosque in Soa, Bulgaria
Nisanci Mehmed Pasha Mosque
Rstem Pasha Mosque

7 NOTES
Zal Mahmud Pasha Mosque

6 See also

Kadirga Sokullu Mosque

Isa Muhammad Eendi

Koursoum Mosque or Osman Shah Mosque in

Trikala

Sedefkar Mehmed Agha

Al-Takiya Al-Suleimaniya in Damascus

Yavuz Sultan Selim Madras

Sinan (crater)
Mimar Sinan University
Atik Sinan

Mimar Sinan Bridge in Bykekmece

Church of the Assumption in Uzundzhovo
Tekkiye Mosque
Khusruwiyah Mosque

7 Notes
[1] Goodwin (2001), p. 87
[2] Kinross (1977), pp 214215
[3] De Osa, Veronica.

Oratory at the Western Wall

[4] Saoud (2007), p. 7

[5] Vasari (1963), Book IV, p. 122

Death

Mimar Sinan and his masterwork Selimiye Mosque on the reverse

of the Turkish 10,000 lira banknote of 1982-1995

[6] Encyclopdia Britannica. Sinan (Ottoman architect):

Sinan, also called Mimar Sinan (Architect Sinan) or Mimar Koca Sinan (Great
Architect Sinan) (born c. 1490, Arnaz,
Turkeydied July 17, 1588, Constantinople
[now Istanbul]), most celebrated of all Ottoman architects, whose ideas, perfected in
the construction of mosques and other buildings, served as the basic themes for virtually
all later Turkish religious and civic architecture.
The son of Greek or Armenian Christian parents, Sinan entered his fathers trade as a
stone mason and carpenter.
[7] Encyclopdia Britannica: Sinan (Ottoman architect)

He died in 1588 and is buried in a tomb in Istanbul, a

trbe of his own design, in the cemetery just outside the
walls of the Sleymaniye Mosque to the north, across a
street named Mimar Sinan Caddesi in his honour. He
was buried near the tombs of his greatest patrons: Sultan
Sleyman I and Sultana Haseki Hrrem, Suleimans wife.
In 1935, his remains were exhumed by a group of Turkish scholars. Proponents of the racial science popular at
the time, they claimed that measurements of Sinans skull
proved that he was actually Turkish.[43]
His name is also given to:
a crater on the planet Mercury.
A Turkish state university, the Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts in Istanbul.

[8] Gnay, Reha (2006). A guide to the works of Sinan the

architect in Istanbul. Istanbul, Turkey: Yap-Endstri
Merkezi Yaynlar. p. 23. ISBN 975-8599-77-1. Retrieved 2012-04-05.
[9] Fletcher, Richard (2005). The cross and the crescent:
Christianity and Islam from Muhammad to the Reformation (Reprinted. ed.). London: Penguin. p. 138. ISBN
9780670032716. ...was Sinan the Old-he lived to be about
ninety-an Armenian from Anatolia who had been brought
to the capital as one of the 'gathered'.
[10] Zaryan, Sinan, Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia, p. 385.
[11] Kouymjian, Dickran. Armenia from the Fall of the Cilician Kingdom (1375) to the Forced Emigration under
Shah Abbas (1604)" in The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times, Volume II: Foreign Dominion to
Statehood: The Fifteenth Century to the Twentieth Century.
Richard G. Hovannisian (ed.). New York: St. Martins
Press, 1997, p. 13. ISBN 0-312-10168-6.

Sinans portrait was depicted on the reverse of the Turkish

10,000 lira banknotes of 1982-1995.[44]
[12] Alboyajian (1937), vol. 2, pp. 1533-34.

[13] Jackson, Thomas Graham (1913). Byzantine and Romanesque Architecture, Volume 1. Cambridge University
Press. p. 143. They are many of them designed by Sinan,
who is said to have been an Armenian
[14] Sitwell, Sacheverell (1939). Old Fashioned Flowers.
Country Life. p. 74. The architect Sinan, perhaps of
Armenian descent, raised mosques and other buildings all
over the Turkish Empire.
[15] Talbot, Hamlin Architecture Through the Ages. University
of Michigan, p. 208.
[16] Byzantium and the Magyars, Gyula Moravcsik, Samuel R.
Rosenbaum p.28.
[17] Kathleen Kuiper. Islamic Art, Literature, and Culture.
The Rosen Publishing Group, 2009 p. 204 ISBN
9781615300976: The son of Greek Orthodox parents,
Sinan entered his fathers trade as a stone mason and carpenter. .
[18] Sinan: the grand old master of Ottoman architecture, p.
35, Aptullah Kuran, Institute of Turkish Studies, 1987
[19] Walker, Benjamin and Peter Owen Foundations of Islam:
the making of a world faith, 1998, p. 275.
[20] Goodwin, Godfrey (1971). A history of Ottoman architecture. Johns Hopkins Press. p. 199. ISBN 978-08018-1202-6. He came from the district of Karaman and
the Greek lands, but he does not, it is true, specically
call himself a Greek, which, in eect, he no longer was
from the moment that he admitted that there was no other
God but Allah. Yet after the conquest of Cyprus in 1571,
when Selim decided to repopulate the island by transferring Greek families from the Karaman beylik, Sinan intervened on behalf of his family and obtained two orders
from the Sultan in council exempting them from deportation. It was Selim I who ordered the rst devsirme levy in
Anatolia in 1512 and sent Yaya- basis to Karamania and
this is probably the year in which Sinan came to Istanbul.
Since he was born about 1491, or at the latest in 1492, he
was old for a devsirme
[21] Rogers, J. M. (2006). Sinan: Makers of Islamic Civilization. I.B.Tauris: Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies. p.
backcover. ISBN 978-1-84511-096-3. (Sinan) He was
born in Cappadocia, probably into a Greek Christian family. Drafted into the Janissaries during his adolescence, he
rapidly gained promotion and distinction as a military engineer.
[22] Cragg, Kenneth (1991). The Arab Christian: A History in
the Middle East. Westminster John Knox Press. p. 120.
ISBN 0-664-22182-3.
[23] al-Lubnn lil-Dirst, Markaz (1992). The Beirut review,
Issue 3. Lebanese Center for Policy Studies. p. 113. Retrieved 2012-04-05.
[24] Brown, Percy (1942). Indian architecture: (The Islamic
period). Taraporevala Sons. p. 94. the fame of the
leading Ottoman architect, Sinan, having reached his ears,
he is reported to have invited certain pupils of this Albanian genius to India to carry out his architectural schemes.

[25] Akgndz Ahmed & ztrk Said, (2011), Ottoman History, Misperfections and Truths, IUR Press (Islamitische Universiteit Rotterdam), Pg.196, See online. Quoted
from the book: According to yet another view, Sinan
came from a Christian Turkish family, whose fathers
name was Abdulmennan and his grandfathers Doan
Yusuf.
[26] Goodwin (2003), pp 199200.
[27] This decree was published in the Turkish journal Trk
Tarihi Encmeni Mecmuas, vol. 1, no. 5 (June 1930-May
1931) p. 10.
[28] Muller, Herbert Joseph (1961). The Loom of History.
New American Library. p. 439.
[29] Architects, Craftsmen, Weavers: Armenians and Ottoman Art. Abstracts from the International Conference
ARMENIAN CONSTANTINOPLE organized by Richard G.
Hovannisian, UCLA, May 1920, 2001. Social Sciences
Division University of California, Los Angeles. Retrieved
13 September 2013.
[30] Muqarnas, Volume 24 History and Ideology: Architectural Heritage of the lands of Rum, p. 179, Gurlu Necipoglu, Bril, 2007, ISBN 978-90-04-16320-1
[31] Constantinople, de Byzance Stamboul, Cell Esad Arseven, H. Laurens, 1909
[32] Brown, Percy (1942). Indian architecture: (The Islamic
period). Taraporevala Sons. p. 92. Retrieved 2012-0405. the fame of the leading Ottoman architect, Sinan,
having reached his ears, he is reported to have invited certain pupils of this Albanian genius to India to carry out his
architectural schemes.
[33] Mahajan, Vidya Dhar; Savitri Mahajan (1962). The Muslim rule in India, Volume 1. S.Chand. p. 210. Retrieved
2012-04-07.
[34] Kinross, pp 214215.
[35] Sinan (in Dictionary of Islamic Architecture)
[36] A list of the buildings designed by Mimar Sinan
[37] The Drina Bridge gave its name to the famous novel by
the Yugoslav author Ivo Andri.
[38] Tracy, James D.; Savitri Mahajan (2000). City Walls: The
Urban Enceinte in Global Perspective. Cambridge University Press. p. 306. ISBN 978-0-521-65221-6. Retrieved
2012-04-07.
[39] (Articles author): Gjergji Frashri (2000). Fjalori Enciklopedik Shqiptar. Akademia e Shkencave e Shqipris. p.
2946. ISBN 978-99956-10-32-6.
[40] Albanian Cultural Heritage (PDF). Republic of Albania,
National Tourism Agency. 2000. p. 59. Retrieved 201204-07.
[41] William J. Hennessey, PhD, Director, Univ. of Michigan
Museum of Art. IBM 1999 WORLD BOOK.
[42] Marvin Trachtenberg and Isabelle Hyman. Architecture:
from Prehistory to Post-Modernism. p. 223.

10

10

EXTERNAL LINKS

[43] Haniolu, M. kr (2013). Atatrk: An Intellectual Biography. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. p. 171.
ISBN 9780691157948.

Sewell, Brian. (1992) Sinan: A Forgotten Renaissance Cornucopia, Issue 3, Volume 1. ISSN 13018175

[44] Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey. Banknote Museum: 7. Emission Group - Ten Thousand Turkish Lira I. Series, II. Series, III. Series & IV. Series. Retrieved
on 20 April 2009.

Stratton, Arthur (1972). Sinan. Macmillan Publishers. ISBN 0-333-02901-1.

Further reading
(Armenian) Alboyajian, Arshag A.
(History of Armenian Kayseri). 2
vols. Cairo: H. Papazian, 1937.
(Turkish) elebi, Sai Mustafa (2004). Book of
Buildings : Tezkiret'l Bnyan Ve Tezkiret'lEbniye (Memoirs of Sinan the Architect). Ko
Kltr Sanat Tantm ISBN 975-296-017-0
De Osa, Veronica (1982). Sinan the Turkish
Michelangelo. New York: Vantage Press ISBN 0533-04655-6
(German) Egli, Ernst (1954). Sinan, der Baumeister osmanischer Glanzzeit, Erlenbach-Zrich, Verlag
fr Architektur; ISBN 1-904772-26-9

Turner, J. (1996). Grove Dictionary of Art, Oxford

University Press, USA; New Ed edition; ISBN 0-19517068-7
Van Vynckt, Randall J. (editor). (1993) International Dictionary of Architects and Architecture Volume 1. Detroit: St James Press. ISBN 1-55862089-3
Vasari, G. (1963). The Lives of Painters, Sculptors
and Architects. (Four volumes) Trans: A.B. Hinds,
Editor: William Gaunt. London and New York: Everyman.
Wilkins, David G. Synan in Van Vynckt (1993), p.
826.
A Guide to Ottoman Bulgaria by Dimana
Trankova, Anthony Georgie and Professor Hristo
Matanov; published by Vagabond Media, Soa,
2011

Goodwin, Godfrey (2001). The Janissaries. Lon- Tertiary Sources

don: Saqi Books. ISBN 978-0-86356-055-2
(Armenian) Zaryan, Armen. (Sinan).
(2003). A History of OtArmenian Soviet Encyclopedia. vol. x. Yerevan:
toman Architecture. London: Thames & HudArmenian Academy of Sciences, 1984, pp. 385
son Ltd (1971, reprinted 2003) ISBN 978-0-500386.
27429-3
Gler, Ara; Burelli, Augusto Romano; Freely, John
(1992). Sinan: Architect of Suleyman the Magnicent and the Ottoman Golden Age. WW Norton &
Co. Inc. ISBN 0-500-34120-6
Kinross, Patrick (1977). The Ottoman Centuries:
The Rise and Fall of the Turkish Empire London:
Perennial. ISBN 978-0-688-08093-8
Kuran, Aptullah. (1987). Sinan: The Grand Old
Master of Ottoman architecture, Ada Press Publishers. ISBN 0-941469-00-X
(Turkish) Kuran, Aptullah; Ara Gler (Illustrator);
Mustafa Niksarli (Illustrator). (1986) Mimar Sinan.
Istanbul: Hrriyet Vak. ISBN 3-89122-007-3
Necipolu, Glru (2005). The Age of Sinan: Architectural Culture in the Ottoman Empire. London:
Reaktion Books. ISBN 978-1-86189-244-7.
Rogers, J M. (2005). Sinan. I.B. Tauris ISBN 184511-096-X
Saoud, Rabat (2007). Sinan: The Great Ottoman Architect and Urban Designer. Manchester: Foundation for Science, Technology and Civilisation.

9 See also
(French) Roux, Jean-Paul (1988). Les Mosques
de Sinan, Les Dossiers d'archologie, May 1988,
number 127.
(French) Stierlin, Henri (1988). Sinan et Soliman
le Magnique, Les Dossiers d'archologie, May
1988, number 127.
(French) Topu, Ali (1988a) Sinan et l'architecture
civile, Les Dossiers d'archologie, May 1988, number 127.
(French) Topu, Ali (1988b)."Sinan et la modernit", Les Dossiers d'archologie, May 1988, number 127.

10 External links
Mimar Sinan founder of this Foundation - with a
picture of his last will and proof of his original name
(Turkish)

11
Pictures of the city of Edirne, with many pictures of
the Selimiye Mosque
A map and a short guide for Sinans works in Istanbul
(Turkish)
Photos of some Sinan mosques in Istanbul
Map of some Sinan mosques in Istanbul
Master Builder of the 16th Century Ottoman
Mosque
Mimar Sinan Bridge in Bykekmece
The Ottoman architect who linked East and West
Peerless Turkish architect claimed to be headless in
tomb
Mimar Sinans life and works (Turkish)

12

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